Posted on January, 20, 2025 at 06:23 pm
Digital agriculture is often hailed as an almost magical trigger for promoting successful farming, even among smallholder farmers in the developing world.
Its proponents argue that using digital tools to, for instance, generate records and calendar schedules, can help farmers grow better crops, manage their resources more efficiently, and connect with organised markets, all while reducing post-harvest losses.
But not all researchers are convinced that digital solutions are the answer to farmers’ problems. Some argue that the hype around these tools diverts attention from the real, on-the-ground challenges farmers face.
One Kenyan avocado farmer, speaking to a researcher in 2021, said: “We don’t need another app.” Rather, he said: “Crates! We need crates to avoid our avocados getting smashed on the way to the buyer.”
Kenya has become a particularly ripe market for digital agriculture tools. The country, one of Africa’s major technology hubs, has been labelled the “Silicon Savannah”. Eighty percent of its approximately 4.5 million smallholder farmers own mobile phones and operate within Kenya’s well established mobile money ecosystem.
Source: Conversation